>Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 14:18:35 -0600 (CST)
>From: "James M. Kohel"
>To: CBGBs@gnn.com (Dave Jenkins)
>Subject: Townes
>
>Dave,
>
>You most likely have heard the news by now but I thought you might be
>interested this article from www.austin360.com
>
>... jim
>
>*************************************************************************
>
> Townes Van Zandt
>
> a songwriter's songwriter, is dead at age 52
>
> By Michael Corcoran American-Statesman Music Writer
>
> Austin's music community was overcome with sadness, if not surprise,
> at the news that Townes Van Zandt, whose rich narrative style
> influenced a generation of Texas songwriters, died of a heart attack
> Wednesday night at his home near Nashville.
>
> His young daughter, Katie Belle, "came running in and said, 'Daddy's
> having a fight with his heart,' "Beverly Paul of Van Zandt's Sugar
> Hill label said. "They rushed into the room and Townes was already
> gone."
>
> The writer of such country hits as "Pancho and Lefty" (Merle Haggard
> and Willie Nelson) and "If I Needed You" (Emmylou Harris and Don
> Williams) was 52.
>
> It wasn't the hits, however, but a stark and penetrating body of work
> that gave Van Zandt the reputation as a songwriter's songwriter. Such
> early Van Zandt albums as 1968's "For the Sake of the Song" and 1969's
> "Our Mother the Mountain" inspired such Texas songsmiths as Steve
> Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle
> Lovett and Lucinda Williams.
>
> Earle took his worship of Van Zandt public, allowing his assessment
> that "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and
> I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that"
> to be stickered on the cover of Van Zandt's 1987 LP "At My Window."
>
> Many of Van Zandt's friends and admirers, from constant touring
> companion Guy Clark to protege Will Sexton, declined to comment on the
> sad occasion. Gilmore spoke for many, however, when he said, "I think
> that Townes Van Zandt will one day be recognized as one of the great
> American poets of the 20th century. It's a shame that he died too
> young to see that."
>
> But Van Zandt knew that his lot was to be a cult hero.
>
> "I remember him saying to me that he was afraid he was going to be like
> Hank Williams, and people were only going to know who he was after he
> was dead," Gilmore said. Ironically, Van Zandt died on New Year's Day,
> the same date Williams was pronounced dead 44 years earlier.
>
> Battle with alcohol
>
> New York Times writer Robert Palmer drew out the parallels between Van
> Zandt and his hero Williams in a June 7, 1987, article.
>
> "Both men live in their music, as if singing and writing and being
> human were the same thing and as natural as breathing," Palmer wrote.
> He described the music of both Williams and Van Zandt as "the direct,
> untrammeled expression of a man's soul."
>
> A common trait between the two songwriting beacons of different eras
> was an affinity for alcohol and drugs. Van Zandt's battle with the
> bottle was ongoing, as he slipped in and out of sobriety -- sometimes
> during the break between sets. But even as he slurred the cornball
> jokes that he used as comic relief, Van Zandt was capable of compelling
> musical performances, with such down-and-out songs as "Marie," "Tower
> Song" and "Still Lookin' For You" appropriately darkened by Van Zandt's
> state.
>
> "The songs were always there," said Griff Luneberg, manager of the
> Cactus, which hosted countless Van Zandt concerts. "No matter what
> shape Townes was in, he had the songs, and that's what people came to
> hear." Luneberg recalls Van Zandt's final Austin show, at the Cactus
> on Oct. 12, as "pure magic."
>
> "It was a classic Townes show," Luneberg said, almost too choked up to
> talk. "The audience hung on every word, and they sent back this huge
> outpouring of appreciation after every song. They even laughed at his
> jokes, which are the same jokes he'd been telling for 20 years." On a
> good night, Van Zandt packed the charm of a brilliant rascal.
>
> Although his career was on an upswing, especially in Europe, Van
> Zandt's health had been unstable in recent years. At the time of his
> death, he was at home in the Nashville suburb of Smyrna recuperating
> from hip surgery. But his drinking was the cause for most concern.
>
> "I had expected a call about Townes for a few years," Jerry Jeff
> Walker said. "Today I got that call. It's still very sad when it
> comes."
>
> Drifters' stories
>
> He was born John Townes Van Zandt in Fort Worth on March 7, 1944.
> While he was raised in a prominent Texas oil family, Van Zandt began
> his rebel ways as a teen-ager, picking up the guitar after seeing Elvis
> Presley on TV, then later expanding his influences to include Woody
> Guthrie and Lightnin' Hopkins.
>
> Soon after high school, the gaunt songwriter ran from the mansion on
> the hill to the railroad tracks, from comfort to danger, and started
> writing songs about the desperate drifters and life's losers he met in
> his travels.
>
> "He was a completely ornery guy," said longtime friend and fan Joe
> Ely. "He didn't seem to do anything for any reason except for the
> purpose of writing another song. ... He came on this earth to play
> music, and it didn't matter what shape he was in, he always damn well
> fulfilled his goal. And he affected a lot of people by doing it."
>
> The brilliant yet approachable Van Zandt was a magnet for other musical
> storytellers, and he helped establish the "couch circuit" for drifting
> musicians. He shared a lot of himself onstage, and when he stepped
> off, the songwriting community was there to share what they could with
> him.
>
> "I really, honestly believe Townes was one of the main reasons Austin
> received a reputation for quality," Gilmore said.
>
> Van Zandt provided not only the link between Hank Williams and Bruce
> Springsteen, but between people who shared appreciation for him.
> Gilmore and Ely might seem to have been tight since junior high in
> Lubbock, but it was Van Zandt who helped solidify the musical
> partnership.
>
> Gilmore said he and Ely had been only casual acquaintances until the
> day Ely called him up and told him about a hitchhiker he pickedup who
> had a backpack full of his own records.
>
> "Joe called me up and said, 'You gotta hear this.' And of course, it
> was Townes Van Zandt's record, 'Our Mother the Mountain,'" Gilmore
> said. "I think what affected us most was the intelligence of it. And
> I guess you could say that was the catalyst for a lifelong friendship
> and appreciation for (Van Zandt's music)."
>
> Van Zandt's influence on Nashville, where his songs have been recorded
> by Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, Steve Earle and others, was almost as
> strong as in Texas.
>
> "The people he had an influence on in Nashville were the ones who broke
> the rules, and they're the people who truly matter here," said veteran
> singer Jonell Mosser, who recorded "Around Townes," a soulful tribute
> to the singer early last year.
>
> One of Ely's favorite recent memories of Van Zandt comes from an
> Italian folk festival that they both played two years ago. Headliner
> Ely called Van Zandt on stage to play one last song, and he couldn't
> get him to leave.
>
> "I was like, 'Thank you, good night,' but Townes had already gotten his
> feet planted," Ely said. "He wasn't going anywhere, and we just kept
> playing and playing, whether we both knew the song or not. I think we
> played 10 last songs that night, and it was great. He just wouldn't
> stop."
>
> The songs are always there, providing some comfort in the grief, and
> one in particular found Van Zandt looking back with some satisfaction
> on a life like none other. On "A Song For," the lead-off track of
> his most recent CD, 1994's "No Deeper Blue," Van Zandt sang:
>
> "London to Dublin/ Australia to Perth/ I gazed at your sky/ I tasted
> your earth/ Sung out my heart/ For what it was worth/ Never again shall
> I ramble."
>
> Funeral arrangements are pending, but Mosser said she's been told that
> there will be a memorial service Sunday at 3 p.m. in Nashville.
>
> Van Zandt is survived by wife Jeanene, sons J.T. and Will and daughter
> Katie Belle.
>
>
>
> Interviews of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Jonell Mosser
> by Chris Riemenschneider.
>
> Copyright 1997, Cox Interactive Media, Inc.
> All rights reserved.